Want Kids to Eat Veggies? Be Sneaky.
I am fascinated by a book scheduled for release in just a couple of weeks called The Sneaky Chef. The author, a food journalist and trained professional chef, has done time in the toughest kitchen of all: Her own, with two young children.
Not to be outdone by a 4-year-old, Missy Chase Lapin created a whole new cuisine, a sneaky cuisine, a cuisine made up of purees, juices and special baking mixes that sneak the vitamins, phytochemicals, minerals and other good stuff into the foods that kids generally do eat. Foods like brownies, french toast, ice cream and mac-n-cheese.
The idea, she explains, is to pull out the heavy machinery and make pure purees of, say, cauliflower and white beans for a white puree, or broccoli and spinach for a green one, and then whip the heck out of the stuff until it has no texture left. Then sneak it into your kids’ food.
This book contains two recipes for brownies with blueberries (purple puree) and one that calls for spinach in the form of “green juice.’”
I couldn’t resist. I bought the brownie mix, the blueberries and the spinach. Imagine: Healthy brownies.
A few days later, my daughter called me at work.
“Mom, can I make the brownies I found in the cabinet?”
“No, Beth, I’m going to make that a different way. I’m adding blueberries to it.”
“Yuck! Why would you do that?”
“Blueberries are good for you. You won’t even know they’re there. Hey, I have another recipe where I can put spinach in.”
“Mommm! Gross. Can’t you just let me make the brownies?”
I glanced at my watch. I wouldn't be making brownies today, that's for sure. “Well, OK. But there are some walnuts in the cupboard. Add those in.”
And so, I didn’t get to try the sneaky recipes, but at least walnuts add protein. Next time I try to be sneaky, I’m not telling.
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work.
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